Milos tops Czech presidential race

PRAGUE (AFP) - Loved for his wit by fans but blasted by foes for his outspoken ways, veteran left-winger Milos Zeman is tipped to storm round two of the Czech presidential election after topping round one. At 68, he is younger than round-two rival Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, a 75-year-old blue-blooded aristocrat, whose personality contrasts sharply with the bold, ex-communist Zeman. An economist, Zeman rose to stardom in Communist Czechoslovakia just before totalitarianism was toppled in 1989, after he published a magazine article decrying the utter failure of the Communist command economy.